1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a solid state imaging device and to an imaging apparatus using the same. Further, the present invention relates to a technique which is effective, for example, when utilized for defect relief technique of solid state imaging devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 51378/1985, for example, can be cited as a prior art reference describing the defect relief technique of solid state imaging devices. As described in this reference, the level data of a video defect signal is stored in an external storage device by a signal output and signal correction is externally carried out on the basis of this data.
However, the defect relief technique described above needs an external storage device and a memory control circuit for effecting the write/read control. As a result there is an increase in the number of necessary components. Therefore, the reduction of the size and weight of the solid state imaging device is impeded and the increase in the production cost is unavoidable. Furthermore, in accordance with this defect relief technique, a pair of external storage devices storing therein the data which corresponds on one-to-one basis to each solid state imaging device must be shipped. Accordingly, the inspection at the time of shipment and the acceptance inspection on the customer side are extremely troublesome and, moreover, the management during the assembly process of an imaging apparatus gets complicated. For these reasons, this defect relief technique does not provide a practical solution for the defect relief.